JUST DESSERTS: Oregon Official Who Shut Down Christian Bakers ‘Sweet Cakes By Melissa’ For Refusing To Make An LGBTQP Wedding Cake Loses Election

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, a champion of the LGBTQ community, was running for Secretary of State. As labor commissioner since 2008, Avakian often made news for his tough calls against businesses discriminating against gay and transgender customers.The most noteworthy was when Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make the wedding cake for the same-sex couple in 2013, citing the owners' religious beliefs. Shop owners Melissa and Aaron Klein were ordered to pay $135,000 in emotional damages. They were also told they couldn't refuse customers based on sexual orientation.

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who came to national attention for heftily fining a local Christian baker who refused to make a gay wedding cake for a lesbian couple, lost his election bid for Secretary of State.

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”Romans 12:19 (KJV)

In May of 2014, Christian baker Jack Phillips was ordered by the Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission to make same-sex wedding cakes. He refused. In June of 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 7-2 decision, faulted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s handling of the claims brought against Jack Phillips, saying it had showed a hostility to religion. In doing so, the commission violated his religious rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Yay!

And now today we read that the anti-Christian Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who drove Christian baker ‘Sweet Cakes by Melissa’ out of business, was soundly defeated by his Republican challenger Dennis Richardson, for the office of Oregon Secretary of State. Republicans have not won in that state since 2002. Well, imagine that. This calls for some cake!

Oregon official who shut down Christian bakery loses election

FROM CNN: Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, a champion of the LGBTQ community, was running for Secretary of State. As labor commissioner since 2008, Avakian often made news for his tough calls against businesses discriminating against gay and transgender customers.

The most noteworthy was when Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make the wedding cake for the same-sex couple in 2013, citing the owners’ religious beliefs. Shop owners Melissa and Aaron Klein were ordered to pay $135,000 in emotional damages. They were also told they couldn’t refuse customers based on sexual orientation.

Melissa Klein claimed the ruling stripped the couple of their First Amendment rights. “According to the state of Oregon we neither have freedom of religion or freedom of speech,” she said in a Facebook post at the time.

“Sweet Cakes by Melissa” eventually shut down completely, though their Facebook page remains active. Avakian was also responsible for slamming a $400,000 fine on a Portland bar owner who refused service to transgender customers, according to the Oregon Live.

In his bid for Secretary of State, Avakian promised a push for “progressive values” like wage equality and reproductive freedoms. His conservative opponent promised to adhere to the position’s basic, more traditional roles, like auditing public records and officiating elections.

In the end, the opponent, Dennis Richardson won 48% of the popular vote, beating Avakian by nearly 100,000 votes. The victory makes Richardson the first Republican to win a statewide office in Oregon since 2002. READ MORE

Aaron & Melissa Klein – Sweet Cakes by Melissa

First Liberty Institute is representing Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of “Sweet Cakes by Melissa,” in a battle for the Oregon couple’s religious freedom. In 2013, two women asked the Kleins to make a cake celebrating their same-sex wedding. As devout Christians, the Kleins felt that helping celebrate the wedding would violate their faith, so they declined to make the cake—only to have the state punish them with a $135,000 penalty and issue a gag order against them. The Kleins were forced to shut down their business.

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